Malaise

So, my ADD went sideways. All the wind went out of my BtPG sails, and rather than a shifting focus, I became unfocused. That lasted a few days, then I discovered a copy of WFRP 2nd edition. In spite of the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the 2nd edition (even from the 1st edition grognards), I was always an elitist prick about the whole thing.

Well, I have seen the light. This is a fantastic update to an already fantastic system. I skimmed it back when it was released, and didn't notice enough differences to make me feel like it actually was a 2nd edition. Based on that wholly incomplete exposure, my impression was that they had updated the presentation, and little else.

It is true that the changes are subtle, almost house rule like in nature. In fact, that really is what they are. Sand paper for the rough spots of the 1st edition. There were rough spots that needing smoothing, though. The end result here is that the original is wholly intact and made better by the changes. Sure, they are very subtle when reading, but their effect on play should result in serious improvements.

So far as I can tell with this reading, the magic system is the only thing with wholesale revisions. To be honest, I'm not sure about that, either. I like what they did, but I'm not entirely sure I like their backstory for it. Allow me to clarify: I like the backstory, I don't like it being the only backstory. There are some treatments on the net meshing the old "philosophy" of magic with the 2nd edition version. I need to check those out.

It is quite likely that my next few posts may have something or other to do with Warhammer. I'm a little uneasy about that, to tell you the truth. Warhammer is not: D&D, free, or old school. It is one hell of a good game, though, and it has my attention. At least for now.

A "New" Blog

I ran across this blog today: RPG World Building. This is a subject near and dear to my dark little heart. October is doing some great work, and her site is well worth the trip.

Where to from Here?

Well, I know BtPG is far from being a final product, but with the core skeleton in place my ADD is demanding a change. To be honest, a lot of what's left on that project is stuff I consider either things that would be specific to a given campaign (such as encounter tables) or stuff that I consider downright tedious and just as easy to poach from another system.

So, I find myself in that in-between angst, unsure of direction. I've had a brief flirtation with DCC, but I'm having a hard time getting past all the dice. I understand how to use my d8 as a d7 and all that, it's not a worry about having the weird die types. I don't want to have to keep straight when to use which one, let alone teach someone. After almost 36 years of D&D, the usual dice are hard-coded into my brain, but to learn when to use a d14 vs a d16, or how radical the odds shift when I add +1 to a 3d5 roll is more than I want to deal with.

I started thumbing through ACKS again, since it was cut short by my design efforts. I was thinking it may be fun to sketch up a map and randomly generate a kingdom or something. I have the hex-map random terrain article from Welsh Piper which should compliment the stuff in ACKS pretty well, so I may work on that and post about my progress. Who knows?

BtPG Magical Catastrophe Table

Here is the Magical Catastrophe Table. Remember, it is only used when a caster attempts spells beyond his normal capacities, and even then, only if the casting roll is a "2". Magic has the potential to be dangerous, if misused. It is not like handling raw plutonium unprotected.

Magical Catastrophe Table

Roll (2d6)	Catastrophe	Effect
2	Deformity (1)	A randomly determined physical deformity (horns, red skin/eyes. Boils/warts, etc)
3	Mindwipe (2)	Caster loses all spells. They must be restudied before they may be used again
4-5	Blowback	Caster suffers damage equal to Rank of failed spell
6-8	Fatigue	The caster may not cast another spell for a number of turns equal to the Rank of the failed spell
9-10	Mindburn (3)	Caster loses spells equal in Rank to the Rank of the failed spell
11	Soulburn (4)	Caster permanently loses 1 hp
12	Visions (5)	Caster is given horrific visions of the fate that awaits all who work magic. Reduce WIZ by 1.

Modifiers

• + Spell Rank
• – Caster's WIZ

Notes

1. Each time this is rolled it is either a progression of a former deformity, or the beginnings of a new one. A single deformity may only go through three stages. At the first, it is concealable or explainable, the second stage results in -1 to CHAR, with the third stage resulting in a -2. A caster may have no more than three deformities at stage one. If he has three at stage one, any subsequent deformities will be progressions of those already manifest.
2. The study time for this is not reduced by INT.
3. The caster may select the spells to be lost. They may be restudied after the caster has rested.
4. Permanently reduce the caster's hp by 1. Nothing short of a Wish or divine intervention will restore hps lost in this fashion. The pain of this catastrophe never fully fades.
5. These visions haunt the caster until the end of his days. They fill his dreams and quiet waking moments. The WIZ lose is permanent, and in addition, the caster never again reduces his study time for any reason.

A Rather Radical Setting Idea

I'm mainly writing this here so I don't lose it or forget it. It was inspired by this pic.

A setting/world/corner of the world. Magic was long ago outlawed for whatever reason seems appropriate. After many generations almost all knowledge of magic, or the ability to work it, is gone.

The only "people" left that know anything of it are . . . goblin shamans. Their "learned" status has lead to them having more open minds than their kin. In fact, for reasons known only to goblin-kind, they eventually drifted apart from the clans, becoming reclusive and living in self-imposed exile.

Now, they are almost like specialists in adventuring parties. If a party perceives a situation where magic may be necessary, they will often seek out a reclusive goblin shaman and attempt to entice him into joining their enterprise. The shaman is rarely trusted, mainly because when they agree to such things, it is for reasons of their own. They have their own agenda for the adventure and they never tell.

Oh, and one more thing. They can't teach their magic, so even if a non-goblin student showed up, it ain't happening. The goblin mind is wholly alien to anything other than other goblins, and goblin complex thought processes are not compatible with any other mind.

An Open Question

I love the idea of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Weird/horrific fantasy seems really cool to me. So, I started thinking about adding some horrific elements to my BtPG RPG. Well and good, but then I started thinking (always a dangerous thing). That leads us to the Open Question:

Other than some sort of Sanity/Insanity rules, what mechanical ties to the system does weird fantasy need?

I can't think of any really. Maybe a slightly more detailed Fear/Fright system. It just seems to me that scary roleplaying is more about setting and adventure design than about mechanical support.

So, what are your thoughts on the subject?

D&DNext Fighters

I'm nobody's expert on Next. I'm signed up for the playtest, and I've read the first release of the playtest rules. I don't follow all the development blogs and interviews, news and soundbites, though. Well, I sort of follow them, by way of the Grumpy Dwarf over at Tenkar's Tavern. In his latest post we find this quote from a Legends and Lore article by Rodney Thompson.

"Instead, we represent the difference in characters of various levels primarily through their hit points, the amount of damage they deal, and the various new abilities they have gained. Characters can fight tougher monsters not because they can finally hit them, but because their damage is sufficient to take a significant chunk out of the monster's hit points "

If you recall from my post from December of last year, I proposed that a Fighter's increasing ability should be tied to damage output, not necessarily to the "to hit" bonus. I apologize if I sound boastful, but it really is vindicating when I am on the same page as the designers of the flagship for the hobby. I'm just a guy with an outdated computer and severely restricted resources, and I forwarded a design paradigm six months ago that the "professional" designers have just gotten around to.